He pressed his back against hers and leveled his longsword, keeping their enemies a safe distance away.
"We're surrounded!" he shouted to her over the din of the battle, swinging his weapon and slicing through the arm of an approaching soldier. The figure clad in black let out an agonized scream, and as their weapon fell to the ground with a clatter, so did they as they clutched their injured limb. His attacker's scream was lost among the screams and shouts of others around them as humans and dragons alike dueled.
In the corner of his eye, he could see his partner mercilessly knocking down their enemies with her war hammer, and their dragons fighting others nearby.
"No duh, Ash!" she yelled as her weapon met the skull of a soldier with a sickening crack. Her face contorted in a mixture of guilt and adrenaline as she moved back towards him to regroup, her eyes on the now lifeless body.
More of Vesuvius' men moved in to surround them, but as they did Ash spotted an escape route. With a loud, ear-piercing whistle, he signaled for Mosh, and the tiny gray dragon broke away from his opponent to fly towards his Rider, taking out some of the figures in black as he did so.
"Mist!" he cried out, reaching a hand towards his partner as Mosh's claws wrapped around his shoulders. Misty firmly grasped his hand just as Mosh lifted Ash off the ground, and together the two swung over the sea of soldiers, just high enough off the ground to miss the swing of their weapons.
The little dragon soared up towards the ceiling of the large hallway, and swung around into a wider hallway with a shorter ceiling, and stairs at the far end of the hallway that lead down into the dungeons, where the prisoners were kept.
Burdened with the extra weight, Mosh could only carry them for so long before his tiny wings threatened to give out, and he warned his Rider of so with a mental cry.
"Mist!" he yelled above the chaos around them, and she tightened her grip on his wrist to let him know that she had heard. At the same time Ash let go of Mosh, Misty let go of his arm, and they landed side-by-side next to another person on their side, who was weaponless and surrounded by the enemy.
"Duck!" Misty yelled at the boy, who dropped just in time for her to swing her hammer over his head and take out a black-clad figure sneaking up behind him. The boy hastily thanked her before slipping around a pair of fighting dragons and into the safety of a large group of Resistance fighters.
"This was a bad idea," Misty said to Ash as the pressed their backs together, keeping Vesuvius' men away with sharp, precise slices and hits. "Even though they only allowed the best fighters on this mission, we're still too outnumbered. If we're not killed, we're going to end up down in the lower levels of this place as prisoners."
"Look on the bright side, Mist, at least you have more people to hit with your hammer," Ash replied with a grin, and Misty glared at him before hitting his arm with her hammer just hard enough to leave a bruise, causing him to yelp. Then, with skipping a beat, she swung around to nail one of Vesuvius' men in the head, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Yeah, well—," she began, only to be cut off by the agonized roar of a dragon.
A bolt of pain struck Ash, and he collapsed at the same time Misty did, both gasping in pain and clutching their necks.
"Seltore!" Misty screamed, tears pooling in her eyes as the pain of her dragon flooded through her senses through their bond. Before Ash could react, his partner was on her feet and running through the chaos towards her dragon, leaving Ash and Mosh no choice but to chase after her.
When they finally caught up to her, she was kneeling beside Seltore, who was lying on the ground with a large bite mark inflicted by another dragon on his neck.
The once proud, wingless blue beast was reduced to writhing on the ground in misery as his Rider tried to soothe him.
"Let me help," Ash said to Misty as he knelt down beside her, skimming his hand over the wound as his other had searched for his vial of feathers. The elegant, agonized dragon let out a weak roar of pain at his touch, and Ash stroked his muzzle apologetically.
"I shouldn't have let you get separated from us," Misty whispered to Seltore, her voice heartbroken as she stroked her dragon's arm with tears in her eyes.
"Mist…" Ash whispered, shocked to see the strong tomboy cry. "C'mon, it's okay, I'll heal him," he tried to comfort her, but his words were shaky. Instead, he rested his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him with tear filled eyes.
"Please help, Ash—!"
She was cut off by another dragon's roar, but this one wasn't a cry of pain, it was a retreat signal.
Ash looked around widely, his brain not seeming to register that the Resistance members were retreating.
"Retreat!" one of the people leading the attack yelled as he rode by on his dragon, but had it skid to a stop when he spotted Ash, Misty, and their dragons not moving.
"Come on!" he cried out to them as he approached. "We must retreat, quickly!"
Ash looked over at Misty, and she stared back in a panic. But her expression quickly settled into an emotionless mask when she looked over at her dragon, who quietly gazed back at her with deep purple eyes.
"I'm not leaving Seltore behind," she said, her voice stern.
"But Misty!"
"Go! Leave without me!" she yelled, shoving Ash towards the older Resistance member.
Ash struggled in the man's arms as he was dragged away, his eyes locked on Misty. Blood roared through his ears, completely blocking out the noise around him. She stared back at him, her emotionless expression slipping to offer him a small, solemn smile. But then Seltore moaned in pain, and the last thing Ash saw before he was dashed away was her calm façade completely shattering, and the fear flooding her expression.
Then she was lost in the midst of blood and bodies.
"NO!" he screamed. "MISTY!"
With a gasp, Ash jolted upright in his bed. His skin was sticky with sweat, and his hands were shaking with adrenaline. With a groan, he dropped his head into his hands, pressing the heels of his hands into his tightly closed eyes.
Not again, he thought, trying his hardest not to cry as his eyes stung with tears. It had been over a month since that battle, but nightmares of that day still constantly plagued his dreams, refusing to let him forget what had happened.
And the nightmares were always so vivid. He could see every drop of sweat on his companions; hear every gasp and shriek and roar of pain; taste the metallic tinge of blood in the air, on the ground, staining bodies of dragons and humans alike…
But the most vivid thing was always the unconcealed fear and pain in Misty's eyes as he was ripped away from her.
He didn't like seeing Misty so weak and defenseless like that. For so long he had always looked up to Misty; she was a rock, strong and unbreakable, and he'd always seen her as a pillar of support. Seeing her cry was a wakeup call that even she broke sometimes too. And when she did, Ash swore that he'd be there for her like she always was before for him.
"I'll break you out of the place, Misty," he swore, clutching his partner pendant tightly and squeezing his eyes shut, fighting off tears. Ever since she'd been captured, Ash hadn't felt a thing through their bond from Misty. "I swear."
Drying his tears, he forced himself out of bed and over to the shower, trying to rinse away the contents of his nightmare. He stumbled through his morning routine in a daze, glad that all of his dorm mates were already gone as he repeatedly zoned out and made a fool of himself, trying to brush his hair with his toothbrush and putting the wrong shoe on each foot before realizing what he was doing.
He just couldn't think straight with all that had happened, and without her being around.
Struggling to focus, he wandered out of his dorm and into the halls of the academy. For whatever reason he'd felt the need to bring his lavender tie along with him, despite the fact that he wasn't wearing his full uniform today.
After alerting his superiors of the new arrivals at the base, he'd been given the day off from classes and missions in order to help accustom them to the workings of the academy and act as their guide. As such, he'd only donned the navy blue slacks and white button down polo of Inlusio Academy's uniform, and had left his blazer—of which was the same color as his slacks—back in his dorm room.
His tie was faded and frayed at the edges; it was one of his only mementos left from Savoir Faire Academy, and it'd been through a lot—just as he had—since leaving there. Inlusio Academy had offered him a new one, but he refused to take it.
With a small, sad smile, he clutched it tightly in his hands and held it against his chest, where his blue-violet partner pendant laid.
"Gary and the others must be reminding me of the good old days," he said somberly, tying it around it his neck and leaving it in a messy knot. He didn't know how to tie it correctly, and he didn't really care to try.
If Misty were here, she'd yell at me and hit me and fix my tie for me…
With a sigh, he pushed all thoughts of the red-head out of his mind, and continued on down the hallway. That reminded him that he'd promise to meet up with his old academy friends, and it brought a little more bounce into his step.
He turned a corner, and up ahead he could see the doors leading into the cafeteria. The smell of syrup and other delicious scents hit his nose, and his stomach growled loudly in reply.
"Hush, stomach, I'll feed you soon," he said to it, and was about to rush inside when he looked at his tie, and remembered his friends.
"They're probably with May already," he murmured quietly to himself, glancing back over his shoulder in the direction of the medical wing. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck his mind.
"They probably haven't had breakfast yet, though, so I'll just go eat and then bring them some!" he cheerily decided. He ran towards the doors and threw them open, ignoring the two fourth-year students on the other side, who gave each other matching "What sort of dragon drugs is he taking?" looks as he dashed for the breakfast bar.
The smell of bacon hit his nostrils, and it was all over.
"Hey May, how are you feeling?" Leaf asked the second the brunette opened her eyes.
"Ugh," she groaned. "Tired. And my head hurts. And my side. And my everything. Where are we?"
Leaf couldn't help but to smile slightly. "The doctor said to expect that. And we're at Inlusio Academy. You went a bit crazy in the tunnels after getting hit by that poison dart, and fell unconscious."
"Well no wonder my head hurts," May sourly remarked as she slowly sat up and winced.
White, who was sitting across from Leaf on the other side of May's bed, spoke up. "Take it this way," she said, a hint of humor in her voice to lighten her next words. "The bad news is that your head hurts. The good news is that you're alive. The doctors were afraid you might have suffered some sort of brain damage or heart disease from prolonged exposure to that poison, but your friend Ash healed you enough for you to pull through."
"Oh." She blinked. "Well that is good news then," she said with a laugh. Then, she stilled, her brows furrowing in thought. "Wait, Ash? As is Ash Ketchum, Ash?"
"Or Ashy-boy, if you prefer," Gary chimed in with a smirk from the wall he was leaning against.
"But yep, that's the one. He found us in the tunnels and used some healing magic he learned to heal you, and then brought us here."
"I almost sliced off his ear," White helpfully supplied.
Leaf laughed loudly at that, while May could only try and fail to comprehend their words as her head spun. "Um… okay?"
"We're just really glad to see that you're awake," the green-eyed brunette said sincerely. "You scared all of us back in the mountains, especially when you ran off."
May bit her lip, remembering her dream and the hallucination she'd had. "Um… yeah, about that. Leaf, can I talk to you? Privately?" she said with not-so-subtle glances towards Gary and White.
Leaf looked a bit startled by her sudden request, but nodded anyways, although she glanced over at the other two occupants of the room.
"It's okay, I know when I'm not wanted. I can take a hint," White joked, a playful smile on her face as she stood up and left.
There was a silence before Leaf asked, "Are you going to leave?"
Gary looked over at her, and for a moment the brunette thought that he was going to ignore her or toss a comment back at her, but instead he pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the door with a breezy, "Of course," as he left. Leaf raised an eyebrow at his—now quite common—odd behavior, but didn't press the issue. She'd confront him about it later, when they were alone.
"So what was it you want to talk about?" asked Leaf once he was gone.
"Drew."
Leaf swallowed unsurely, her eyes looking everywhere but May's face. The green-haired boy had been a touchy subject for a long time, especially to May, so Leaf knew that something big must have happened for May to want to talk about him. The fact that she wanted to keep it between herself and her best friend made it even more serious.
"I had a dream about him," May continued with a frown. "A-and it scared me, because it felt so real." She looked up at Leaf, her eyes wide with faint purple bags rimming the bottom. "I'm afraid that it was."
"Well when did you have it? And what happened in it?" Leaf gently coaxed.
"It was that first night we were in the mountain. He was in a dark room—a prison cell—and then a man appeared, but it was so dark I could only make out his outline. He had my pendant and—!"
"Wait, do you have your pendant or—?"
May shook her head. "I lost it in the academy attack," she mournfully explained. "That's why I'm so afraid that dream was real, Leaf," she confessed. "Drew was being tortured. When he saw my pendant he went mad, and then the man he…"
She trailed off, her throat painfully tight and eyes blinking back tears. "He shattered my pendant with no effort at all. Broke it into a million tiny little pieces. And the pain—oh Arceus it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest." By this point May's hands were shaking and tears were running down her cheeks.
"It felt like a part of me was being ripped away. Our bond was broken, I just know it," May whispered brokenly. "And then I thought I saw him, in the tunnels. I was hallucinating, I know, but in that moment I thought that he was actually there, and it hurt so much when he disappeared right in front of my eyes…"
Leaf didn't know what to do. She'd never experienced the pain that May was experiencing right now; she might have split paths with her partner before, but their connection had never been completely severed like May and Drew's had.
"Oh, May…" she whispered, enveloping her friend in a much-needed hug. May sobbed into her shoulder as she continued. "I won't say I understand, because I can't honestly say I know what you're going through. But I'm here for you, May," she said, drawing said girl back to arm's distance and staring straight into her eyes.
"We'll find Drew," she stated confidently, for May's sake as much as her own. She couldn't bear to see her best friend suffer like this day after day, year after year, wondering what had happened to her partner for the rest of her life. "We're so close to finding him May—so close. Ash already said that he'd take us to see Sabrina today, and she'll know something about his whereabouts, May. I'm sure she will."
May sniffled, wiping her nose. "Sure you're sure?"
Leaf smiled slightly. "Absolutely positive."
"I'm coming with you when you go and talked to her."
Leaf's smile dropped to a frown. "May, you're in no condition to be up and about."
"Then take me there in a wheelchair if you have to," she bit back hotly. "Drew is my partner; it's only fair that I'm the one to ask Sabrina about him!"
Leaf raised her hands in surrender, struggling not to grin in relief at the spark in May's attitude. Her fire was definitely returning, which was a good sign. She'd be back to normal in no time.
"Okay, okay, fine, you win. Now all we have to do is wait for Ash to arri—!"
The door flew opened and crashed against the wall, followed by a loud exclamation of, "I brought muffins!"
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Leaf muttered under her breath as Ash flounced in, a basket of muffins of varying flavors hanging from his arm. Gary and White followed him in.
"I'm sorry," White apologized as she reentered the room. "We tried to keep him out, but he was dead set on getting these muffins to May."
"Why are you apologizing? Muffins are life!" May exclaimed as she snatched the basket from Ash and bit into the first muffin she touched.
"Mmm," she moaned. "Blueberry."
Ash grinned, snatching one of the muffins off of the top. May growled at him, circling her arms protectively around her basket of delicious muffins.
"I also got banana muffins and chocolate chip muffins," he proudly proclaimed. "I figured you guys hadn't had any breakfast yet," he explained, taking a big bite out of his muffin.
"Well you figured right," Leaf said with a laugh as she swiped a muffin of her own from May, who had devoured three already and was on her fourth now.
"Hey, hey," Gary chided, taking the—half empty, at this point—basket from May and holding it far away from her.
"Give it back!" May whined, reaching for them. "My muffins!"
"But if I do that you'll eat them all, and if you eat them all, you'll get fat, and hey—if I've got to be traveling with a group of lovely ladies, the least I could do is watch your diet for you so I have a sight for my sore eyes, right?" he teased.
May simply growled at him and lunged for her basket, and this time she succeeded in retrieving it. Ash and White laughed while Gary grinned, but Leaf couldn't even bring herself to smile.
She stared at Gary, scrutinizing him, wishing that she could get into his mind and see what he was thinking. How could he act so casual and playful with everyone else, yet treat her like a stranger? He used to tease her all the time back at the academy, so what had changed? Was it something to do with them being partners? But didn't they settle that issue already?
Leaf closed her eyes with a sigh. Boys were more complicated than dragons sometimes, it seemed.
When she finally zoned back in on her friends, the muffins were gone and Ash was demonstrating his healing magic.
"So here at Inlusio, the students are trained not only in combat and all of that other stuff they showed us at Savoir Faire, but they also teach students how to use magic," he explained.
"But I thought humans didn't contain magic," May said, confusion clearly evident on her face.
"They don't—well, at least not as much as dragons do. That's why I have these," Ash said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a vial filled with a ton of small white feathers that everyone but May had previously seen when he healed the aforementioned girl.
"All humans have a tiny bit of magic inside them; it's what makes bonding to dragons possible, and it's just enough for us to be able to have magic react to us, but nothing else. That's why we don't have all of the magical abilities that dragons have."
"Wow, Ashy-boy," Gary whistled. "You actually sound smart. Did you learn all this here?"
The raven-haired boy nodded, the insult flying right over his head. "Yup. They showed me how to use the feathers to heal wounds. All of the feathers in this vial are embedded with magic, and react to human magic. All I have to do to is think really, really hard about healing the person I want to heal to make the feathers work. Then I trace the wounded area—or in May's case, the poison in her veins—to heal it.
"It takes a little energy, but to be able to heal people it's worth it," he honestly admitted.
"That's fascinating," White murmured in awe. "Can any human use healing magic, or only certain people?"
"Um…" Ash thought for a moment. "I think it only works if you have a certain 'element' or something. I think it's based off of what type your dragon is, or something? Because all of the healers I know having flying-type dragons…"
Leaf's eyes narrowed. Haven't I heard something like that before…?
"While that's cool and all, don't we have something more important to be doing?" Gary asked, addressing the group. He looked at everyone, his eyes settling on Leaf last. She stared back at him, trying to discern what little she could from the lack of emotions in his expression.
He almost seemed like he was… looking to her for verification? What, was he waiting for her to say something?
"Say, Ash, didn't you say you would take us to see Sabrina today?" she hastily said, tearing her gaze from Gary's. She wasn't quite sure why he was suddenly putting all of his decisions on her when he was just as dominant and as much of a leader as she was, but she didn't like it. She definitely had to confront him about this later.
"Oh yeah, I did," he said as he recalled his words from yesterday. "Well I already told the headmaster about you guys, so I'm pretty sure Sabrina will be waiting for us to visit by now. We can go see her right now if you want," he offered.
"Yes! Right now!" May exclaimed. "Let's go right now."
"Well okay then," Ash said with a grin. "I'll go find a wheelchair, and then we can go."
"Um, Ashy-boy, I think it's best if I do that," Gary said with a raised eyebrow. "Knowing you, you'll end up destroying half the school before you find one."
Leaf and May couldn't help but to smile slightly, knowing that it was true. They giggled softly to themselves, although the former could have sworn that the brunet had glanced over at her at the sound, the faintest of smirks on his face before he turned and left to search.
She watched his receding figure suspiciously, wondering just what game Gary Oak was playing at.
Boys were strange creatures indeed.
Ten minutes later the quintet (as Ash decided to tag along, with the permission of the group) were standing in the infamous psychic Sabrina's office, and were appropriately intimidated by the dark color scheme and furnishing and the eerie, glowing pink lights that littered the air around her desk.
Sabrina herself was younger than they expected, at about twenty five year olds, by her looks.
Gary was quick to point this out.
The woman had black hair that reached to her shoulders with ends that flipped up in the back, and bangs that hung over eyes that glowed pink. Leaf wasn't sure if her eyes were naturally that color, or simply looked pink because of her psychic powers. Either way, they were unsettling; for one, it felt as though her eyes seemed to see straight through to your soul when she gazed at you, and the fact that her eyes as well as her entire face was completely emotionless was downright creepy, no questions asked. Power rolled off of her in waves, only serving to terrify her guests even more.
"I've been waiting your arrival," she said once they were seated, squished together and as a whole, dreadfully and awkwardly uncomfortable. Or maybe it was just everything in this room made them uncomfortable, not that anyone could blame them.
"You came to ask me about a friend of yours, yes?" she said, looking at May with a raised eyebrow that seemed out of place above her blank eyes. "Your partner, as I understand?"
May swallowed nervously, and nodded. They hadn't said a word to anyone at this academy—not even Ash—about why they were here, yet somehow, Sabrina knew.
She must truly be a psychic, Leaf thought, and Lithium hummed in affirmation, sensing another powerful psychic near Leaf, even though she was a human.
"Y-yes," May squeaked out, intimidated by the older woman. "His name is Drew Hayden. He was captured along with his dragon, Firroth, during the attack on Savoir Faire Academy, and, um… w-we were hoping that you would be able to tell you where he is."
"And do you have any idea whatsoever of where he might be?" the young psychic asked.
"May had a dream where she saw him chained up in a dark room, so we're assuming a prison," Leaf supplied for her friend, since the poor girl looked too fatigued by fear to speak.
May's looking a little pale… maybe we shouldn't have brought her along? Leaf fretted. She's still weak from the poison…
Calm, love. She'll be fine, Lithium assured. She's gone through a lot; a little bit of intimidation won't kill a strong girl like her.
Sabrina regarded Leaf with a calculating look, and Leaf couldn't help but to stare back at her, unnerved by the look she was given. It almost felt as though Sabrina was seeing inside of her mind…
Everyone in the room was quiet as they waited for Sabrina to speak, and when she finally did her words turned the air tense.
"I did not believe I was speaking to you, Princess," she replied, her voice as cold and chilling as ice.
Leaf, Gary, May, and White froze in their seats; thankfully, the comment soared right over an oblivious Ash's head, who only took it to be an insult and petty nickname, and nothing more.
Leaf's heart leaped into her throat as she stared at Sabrina in a mixture of shock, horror, and disbelief. Her companions mirrored her expression as they regarded the psychic with wariness and doubt. May seemed terrified, whereas White and—surprisingly, Leaf thought—Garylooked ready to whip out any hidden daggers or shirukens they had and silence Sabrina forever.
However, one warning glare and a, "Drawing your weapons on me would be a fatal decision," later, the two had begrudgingly relaxed back in their seats, though everyone was still on edge—even Ash, who was confused by Sabrina's seemingly unprovoked threat.
How did she know? was the only thing Leaf could think through her shock. There had been a flicker in Sabrina's eyes; it had been faint, but it was there. There wasn't a doubt in Leaf's mind that Sabrina knew what she was talking about when she called her by that title.
She read your mind, Lithium explained, letting out a low growl of anger akin to an enraged mother protecting her child as she enveloped Leaf's mind in a protective shield to keep other prying minds out of it.
Without skipping a beat, Sabrina turned to May, her pink eyes glowing more brightly, and said, "Drew Hayden, the boy you are seeking, is located not far to the east of here, in the Ganglion Prison owned and controlled by Vesuvius. He has been there for quite some time.
"The ones you seek are there as well," she said, looking at White, and then, to the surprise of everyone else in the room, Ash. He didn't look surprised, however. In fact, from the grim expression that quickly settled on his face, he already knew who and what she was talking about.
In contrast, May's face lit up in a smile, only one thought prevailing in her mind:
Don't worry Drew, we'll be there to rescue you soon!
While May was celebrating, White was in shock. "My brother is there?" White gasped out, her surprise quickly melting into relief and excitement just like May. "How is he? Is he okay?"
Sabrina regarded her happiness as if it were a disease. "He's alive," she said, and offered no more insight on the topic, much to the blue-eyed brunette's disappoint.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to attend to," the psychic said, and then, when none of them moved, blatantly stated, "That was you cue to leave."
"Tch, somebody's sassy," Gary scoffed under his breath as he stood up, followed by the others. "Reminds me of someone else I know," he muttered under his breath, low enough that a certain green-eyed female didn't hear.
Ash left the room first, followed by May and then White. Just as the last two made their exit, however, Sabrina called out to them in her impassive voice, "Oh, and Mr. Oak, it would be best if you prepared yourself for a confrontation now, before the princess corners you when least expect it. She won't be pleased when she discovers what you're thinking."
Gary shot daggers over his shoulder at the psychic, his body automatically moving to shield his partner from the older woman at the sound of the word "princess" as he ushered her out of the room, despite the angered glare fixated on him or tense muscles under his hands.
The second the door Sabrina's office closed behind them, Leaf wrenched her arms out of Gary's grasp and turned on him, her eyes smoldering with anger. Clearly, Sabrina's words and Gary's actions over the past week had finally forced Leaf to her breaking point.
"We need to talk," she spat out with no regards to Ash, May, or White's presence. "Now. Alone."
"I want to know why you've been acting the way you have towards me for the past couple of days," Leaf said as soon as they were alone.
They were in the guest room they had been staying in, with the door shut tightly behind them to prevent any unwanted eavesdroppers from a conversation that would most likely become very nasty very quickly, knowing what their arguments tended to be like.
"It's nothing," Gary muttered, glowering at her when she came to stand in front of him with her arms crossed.
"Like hell it is," she retorted. "You've been walking on eggshells around me, and if you expected me not to notice your little change in attitude, then you're wrong, partner."
He turned to glare at her. "If you think that this is about us being partners like last time, then you're wrong." His voice was bitter.
"Then enlighten me on what it is about, Gary!"
He remained silent, his eyebrows drawing together as he directed his gaze on a spot on the wall behind Leaf.
What is he looking at? she thought, irritated by the fact that he wasn't answering her, and twisted to look behind her, her frown mirroring his own. Behind her hung the portrait of the queen, causing her eyebrows to shoot up to her hairline. She turned back to Gary (who, she noticed, now had his attention on her) and gave him a cautious look.
"Does it have something to do with my mother?" She took a random guess, hoping that it was in the vicinity of his thoughts. By the way he flinched as if startled, she must have guessed right.
"Look, can we please not talk about this?" he asked, crossing his arms and looking away. "Shouldn't we be talking to May and Touko and deciding what our next move is going to be now that we know where Drew and Touya are?"
"But you're keeping some from me! Gary, I… I thought we already got over this. I'm your partner; why can't you just talk to me?" Leaf pleaded. "I hate to admit it, but you giving me the cold shoulder like you've been doing hurts. I thought we were finally opening up to each others as partners—and as friends—but then you went and closed me back out again. Why? Was it something I said, something I did?"
"No, it's more like you are something," he scoffed before he could stop himself.
Leaf froze, his words turning on some hidden switch in her brain. Everything he said to her, done for her, it all clicked into place in that moment.
"This…" she began hesitantly, praying for her hunch to be right, "…this is about me being the princess, isn't it?" She couldn't keep the slightly incredulous tone out of her voice as her gaze moved from Gary to the portrait on the wall and back. He couldn't have seriously been acting this way all because of a stupid title, could he?
His silence was all the answer she needed.
How did I not realize earlier? she thought, mentally berating herself. Gary only started acting this way right before we left Silverhaven, and that was around the same time I told him who I was. No wonder he said those things about me and my mother's portrait last night… it was so obvious!
She let a loud groan, angrily pressing her hands against her face. "Arceus, you're so stupid!"
Gary scowled, insulted. "Excuse me?"
She dropped her hands to give him a sharp there, and then looked up at the ceiling and laughed bitterly. "You've been treating me like a princess. How did I not realize that earlier?" she muttered to herself, a sour expression on her face.
Gary pressed his lips together, a frown marring his face. "What else was I supposed to do, Princess?" he sarcastically replied, and Leaf's eyes narrowed in anger. "Act like everything was all dandy fresh and the world was swell?"
"Uh, I don't know, how about treat me normally? Do you see May and Touko dropping everything to help me step over a puddle every five seconds?"
The look he gave her was incredulous. "Are you being serious right now? You tell me you're the princess, and then expect me to act like nothing's changed?"
"Yes." Leaf glared back at him. "You're forgetting that my memories were erased when I was six. I don't remember being the princess. I don't even want to be the princess, and you carrying me on a cushion doesn't make me feel normal at all."
"Because you're not normal," Gary seethed, his eyes glowing with anger. "Have you ever thought about how the Resistance members and all of the people in this country would feel if they knew their princess was alive? That could give the Resistance enough hope to help them win the war, Leaf, and then where will you be once Vesuvius is gone? You're surely not going to be able to go back to being average little Leaf Green, that's for sure," he sneered.
"Well then it's a good idea that I don't plan to announce my presence to the world. Ever," she retaliated. "And what about Red? He's older, he's the prince—why does it even matter? If Vesuvius finds out we're alive, he'll have our heads on a stick. And I don't know about you, but that's not on my to-do list of surviving this war."
"Well don't throw yourself out in the middle of a bloodbath, then," he angrily retorted. "If knowledge of you living inspires hope, imagine how crushing it would be for the Resistance to find out that you were alive this entire time, but died in a stupid skirmish with a trio of fashion freaks."
Leaf laughed dangerously. "Oh, you are not pulling this shit again, Oak. We've already discussed this before: I am going to fight in battles whether you like it or not, and you'll either have my back or you won't. There's no other option."
"And now doesn't that sound like a command, Princess?" he jeered, a cruel sneer on his face. "For a girl who says that she doesn't want to be a princess, you sure as hell act as bossy as one."
Leaf was aware of the heat and blood rushing to her face when she realized he was right.
"Look," she spluttered. "I'm angry, you're angry. We've fought before. We know how this is going to end if we don't stop and draw the line here, so can you please—please—just agree to stop the chivalrous shit and go back to treating me like you did before? Please? I'll drop the topic if you do that, I swear."
Gary regarded her with a wary expression. "…Fine," he finally consented. "But I'm not happy about this."
"We'll neither am I, so that makes two of us," Leaf sniped back.
Her partner sighed deeply, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "Look, before anything else happens, we should probably get every other issue we have resolved, to prevent this"—he motioned to the portrait of the queen for emphasis—"from happening again."
Leaf watched him cautiously, an eyebrow cocked in disbelief. His mood had certainly taken a 180 turn if he was suddenly so willing to speak.
"I agree," she said, sitting down on the bed opposite of him. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked, and was caught off guard by his next line.
"I push people away."
Leaf gave him a quizzical look, but he just stared at the floorboards under their feet. "I, ah… elaborate, please?"
He sighed irritably, running a hand through his messy hair. "Nevermind," he said, ready to get up and leave.
"No, no. Stay," Leaf pleaded, not wanting to let the opportunity to get to know her partner better slip away. A moment like this was rare. "Please."
Gary gave her a wary gaze, but slowly relaxed, hunching over to rest his elbows on his knees and head on his hands.
"Did you ever notice my track record with girls?" he murmured.
Leaf gave him an amused smile. "I think everyone noticed your player tendencies, Gary." What is he talking about?
"Did you notice that I wasn't very close with my friends?"
Leaf paused at this, her smile curving into a frown. "No, I didn't," she admitted, because honestly, she hadn't. Back at the academy, Gary had always given off the vibe that he had lots of friends, and was the leader of the pack. If what he was saying was true, maybe she didn't know him all well as she thought.
"Azreth was the only one I considered a true friend—well, at least until you, Bandanna, and Grasshead came along," he added with a small, sincere chuckle that sent a small flood of warmth through Leaf.
"You guys were my first true friends," he admitted quietly. "Before that, all I did was push people away. I didn't trust them—didn't want to trust them, or care about them, because I was afraid of losing them farther along down the road.
"So I flaunted my ego to the guys, and I broke the hearts of the girls and teased them mercilessly—even you—to make everyone dislike me enough so that nobody would want to get close to me."
Leaf was shocked. Never would she ever have imagined that Gary's behavior had always been so calculated, so precise, so planned. It made her heart ache for him, to imagine him so physically close to others and yet so emotionally far away. And although a tiny, tiny piece of her was hurt that the way he used to treat her didn't mean anything special, she understood. Before May, she had always felt like such a stranger, such a loner, back at the academy.
"I dreaded getting a partner my sixth year, because I knew that'd I'd be stuck with her—whoever she was—for the rest of my Resistance career, and I'd mostly likely end up becoming attached to her like I did to Azreth. It was just my luck that I ended up with the most stubborn, independent girl in the academy," he said with a chuckle, and Leaf couldn't help but to smile.
"I tried to keep you at a distance, I really did," he admitted. "But I got attached anyway, and I don't think I've ever panicked more in my life than in that moment when you collapsed from blood loss. Just when I let you in, I thought you were going to get torn out, and I'd be left alone to suffer again."
Again. Leaf made a note of that word and tucked it away in her thoughts.
"Maybe that's why I'm so quote unquote 'overprotective'," he said with a wry smirk.
"Sure," she said with a playful roll of her eyes. "That totally explains why you took on an older, more advanced base leader just to 'protect' me."
He shrugged, but his smile remained. Then, his expression became serious, and he looked over at Leaf thoughtfully. "Do you think I'm a masochist, pushing people away so that they can't hurt me, even though being alone hurts me just as bad?"
Silence.
"No," Leaf began slowly, and was surprised how much she believed what she had said. "No, you're not," she plowed on with more conviction. "You don't treat me that way anymore, do you? You don't break girls' hearts, and you don't push others away. You accept me and Azreth, and—possibly, because I don't know, I can't read your mind—even May and Lithium and White. Right?"
"I—."
He paused.
"…Not anymore, right?" she unsurely repeated, suddenly felt the need for him to verify her words. "I'm not just a nobody you can push away anymore."
He was silent for another moment before he spoke.
"Not anymore," he repeated, his eyes meeting hers. "And that's the scary thing."
OHHHHHHH THAT SEXUAL TENSION AT THE END THO
so all our apologies for not responding to reviews like we usually do, but Aph and I have both been a bit short on time thanks to school. But it's nearly summer now (only two more weeks for me, at least!) so hopefully we'll be back on track soon and able to update regularly. c:
For all of you who are impatiently awaiting Drew's return, get happy because he'll be returning soon!
Also, who's excited for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire? I KNOW I AM. CX
-AquaStarlight
(also fun fact i was gonna say that Seltore's wing was broken before i realized that he doesn't have any ahahaha)
(P.S. HAHAHAHA AN HOUR TO SPARE TAKE THAT 101 I FINISHED BEFORE NOON
*continues to rant on about bet you don't know about* )
